Many readers have sent me links to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s speech, today, at the United Nations–all of them with approving “hurrahs” and “attaboys.” But, per usual, Netanyahu talks a good game, then goes back to Israel and does nothing but kick more Jews out of their homes in “settlements.” Talk is cheap. And Netanyahu typically speaks loudly and carries a soggy matzoh ball (instead of the proverbial big stick). He has never and will never do anything on Iran, with or without U.S. help (which was nowhere to be seen under eight years of Bush, not just four years of Obama). While it is true that fewer Israelis were murdered under Netanyahu than under other capitulator Israeli Prime Ministers, he’s not exactly the far right-wing Jewish militant he’s made out to be. He’s a compromiser extraordinaire and toward the center-left side of the center-right Likud Coalition. That said, look, below, at what FOX News chose as its photo for the story on the Netanyahu speech. That’s right–a dictatorial Hitler salute.

Yet, Matt Drudge and most of the right-wing echo chamber online are only faulting AP and Reuters for the use of this same, exact photo. Um, what about FOX News a/k/a PAWNN (the Prince Al-Waleed News Network)? Does it always get a free pass from real journalism because it pretends to be “conservative?” Only hypocrites have that attitude. And, sadly, there are a ton of ’em on the right and in the “pro-Israel” crowd blindly mesmerized by FOX News.

“Fair and balanced”? Only if you’re judging by Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya “standards.”

If you’re going to give FOX News a pass on the same egregious behavior that you call out AP for, why even have FOX News? It’s not the alternative. It’s just more of the same old crap.

No Muslim with young children would allow a person with Muhammad’s reputation to sleep one night at their home. The “Blood Libel” was once used as an excuse to murder Jews now it has been turned into The “Muhammad Libel”, but the hatred stays the same.

Oh Puhleeeeeeeeeze! That’s not a NAZI salute. A NAZI salute is straight in front with eyes front. You don’t salute looking off to the side with you mouth running. It’s a sign of respect and submission. I’m not a Bibi fan either, but get serious. Now no one can raise their arm to point without it being a NAZI salute? Israelis like other Mediterranean types gesticulate when we speak. I didn’t listen to the speech but I’m guessing that he was indicating that “on this side…” or something similar.

And to belabor what should be obvious to a learned Mensa contributor, the point isn’t the arcane knowledge of Israeli gestures, it is what a gesture like that will mean to most of Fox’s viewers, and the clearly deliberate choice to use a picture like this instead of one with the centrifuge diagram. Even if viewers don’t think of Hitler, they will think, at least for the most part, that Netanyahu is dogmatic and obstinate.

LA, I agree and your last sentence is why I brought in the regional reference. Maybe I’m particularly sensitive because when I went back to the US for a spell in 1994, I was almost charged by a co-worker who thought my gestures were “threatening.” During the time I was away. “personal space” had become an issue and people were very sensitive to any motion of the arms and hands. It’s really out of control in some places and I guess my idea was to educate people so they could see we weren’t just making apologies for Bibi’s politics. I see no reason for you to be offended by the comment engendered by my “dirty lens.”

And it puts a compromiser like Netanyahu in a difficult position, when he has to deal with the US Foreign Policy apparatus, which is anti-Israel, pro-Islamic Brotherhood (to say the least), and where there is little Jewish pressure on Obama and his cohorts, and with evangelicals, pro-Israel in the abstract, getting confounded by Fox — perhaps that is the point of the unflattering pose shown for Netanyahu.

It is just another one of the unsubtle slights that that many in the media delight in using against people they do not like. That is to be expected of anti-Semitic leftists. What offends far more is that a supposedly more conservaive news network without any professed anti-Israel bias uses the same still photo that others have used to demean Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel. Fox News ever more reflects News Corporation’s increased ownership by Islamic interests.

Oh touche. Obviously, MM doesn’t know that the peculiarly Israeli talk of so-called “red lines” is a joke to anyone who actually knows something about Israeli politics, as such talk is mere bluster, typically followed by the Israeli bombing of empty fields. Thus, Bibi’s lectures to Hussein about “red lines” are both laughable and contemptible.

Skzion, don’t waste your time reading or replying to his retarded drivel. It is not worth it because he is insane and insanely boring. Anyone who reads his narcoleptic blather knows he makes zero sense and you wisely laser-pointed what a fraud he is because he is insanely jealous and angry with us and that *ALWAYS* trumps his supposed ideology. He’s a sad wanker.

He also reads EVERY WORD we write. LOL. That shows what a nutter he is. I never read his posts and it’s so soooooo easy to ignore not because he’s a boring bastard (and he is!) but because he starts his boring posts so obviously. He’s such a help…heh, heh, heh.

He’s too gone to realize with every stalking post of his he advertises freely what an unstable and dumb mess he is. It cracks me up and I don’t even read a word of his ZZZZZZZZ-inducing crap.

Just ignore his sad ass as I do. He’s a dopey loon. That’s why I don’t care what he thinks of me and that is why opinion means s*** to me. You don’t need to respond to the loon. Nobody cares what he says…not even BOB DOLE.

Skunky, it is like having someone who has tertiary syphilis rant and rave at you. There is no point to feeding the delirium.

Worry01 on September 29, 2012 at 5:56 am

Skunky, as I said in a later column (I’m catching up), if Muslim Monkey were a mere troll, I’d agree with you, but as his idiotic attacks show him to be a bully, I now think he should be confronted rather than ignored. Certainty I will not spend much time on it.

It really pisses me off that this scum attacks those who defend this site and oppose Islam.

skzion on September 30, 2012 at 1:15 pm

I’m not no fan and/or supporter of Mr. Netanyahu myself, I to think the guy has some baggage on him and is kinda corrupt and DS explained out in this article. I’m really not that surprised with the photo that Fox News put out, because about 20% of the companies stock is owned by the arabs, ie, a muslim prince in Saudi Arabia.

But for the entire right wing establishment in this country to only fault AP and Reuters is no different than the left wing establishment who says nothing to very little about Obama’s flaws, policies, etc.

PS, Debbie, what’d did you think of Mr. Netanyahu’s speech earlier on today at the UN, some conservatives say that his speech was patriotic, etc. I think it sounded pretty good, but I want your views DS on the PM’s speech earlier on today?

However, there are two steps beng taken to correct the record on the right’s intellectual dishonesty of giving Fox News a pass. The first is this present post; the second is Politico writing about the Netanyahu photo, which includes an update that gives a link to DS’s photo of the Fox News website committing this offense from this post.

When I said that the photo was offensive. I didn’t mean that Netanyahu did anything wrong. What I meant was that it was the media photographing him at that moment and then portraying him as giving the Nazi salute that is what is offensive. Concerning what his intent was, I agree with NormanF on September 27, 2012 at 5:42 pm. Therefore, there is really no disagreement between us.

There’s nothing wrong with the photograph. We are actually agreeing if planning the photo, which is pretty hard to do, trust me, having been an event photographer at times, and then captioning it as it was can be called spin. These photos are not planned. When you’re there clicking away with an automatic camera, you are not even “seeing” what you’re capturing. You’re just focusing (yaa, bad pun) on the angles. You go back with the film or memory card and tons of shots and hope you have something usable when they are developed/downloaded.

Netanyahu as Debbie implies, is an utter fraud. Masquerading under a right wing, nationalist banner he is no better then his predecessors who at least were honest about their policies. He is a member of the Israeli power structure, like the power structure in this country,Democrats and Republicans alike, whose only interest is self interest and who don’t give a damn about anything else.

Thanks, Debbie, for reminding Americans that Bibi talks the talk of the Right, but walks the walk of the Left. I know he is corrupt, if less so than most Israeli politicians. But there is one up-and-coming politician in Israel who is free of corruption, a genuine idealogue with a great plan to realize Israel’s potential and secure its future. Read about him at JewishIsrael.org.

Debbie the Gentiles tend to either dislike or fetishize us. This picture belongs to the “dislike” community. Also I know we’re just days into 5773 but already I can’t contain a kvetch: Why do you make me “click to read more” on your longer posts? I suggest we get rid of that so I don’t have to click, click again and then resume reading. It would enhance my DS.com experience and you’d easily break even due to my increased frequency and staying time.

Something tells me Netanyahu is waiting for the upcoming election before he makes any kind of decision about Iran. Obviously, Obama’s declaration of “we’ve got your back” was hollow and false, so what else can the man do if he’s being left to twist in the wind by the US?? At least this is what I’m hoping is the case.

As to A1’s comment above, I’m not inclined to either dislike or fetishize the Jews. But no matter. The time for such intensely personal responses is long past. For me, as the Godfather would say, “it’s only business,” and my interest is national security. Right now, the knee-jerk anti-semitism of some in the media and government, far beyond being simply tiresome and ignorant, could end up costing us ALL a great deal.

Israel is our ONLY ally in the middle east. Considering all the incredibly dangerous unrest that’s obviously brewing, Obama’s anti-Israel stance is making me NUTS!!!

The issues for the Israelis are far more complex, I know, but right now, American citizens need to see the bigger picture here, and I’m not sure they are. And that dumb horse’s a$$ of a photo didn’t help, I’m sure. As far as I’m concerned, this is NOT the time to confuse the issue by making Netanyahu look stupid. What the hell were these people thinking?? We’ve got a dead ambassador, a razed Libyan embassy, and an Iranian leader hell-bent on developing nukes. Honestly, sometimes it seems to me that fiddling while Rome burns has become our national pasttime.

let me see, israel is surrounded by a billion nazi ragheads howling for the jews blood but is all the jews fault?we all know that we are at war with iran and pisslam but refuse to admit it which is dangerous for america.do our politions realy believe that there is a difference between a radical muzzie and a muzzie?israel should attack iran either with conventional weapons or nuke the bastards.nuke all the raghead capitals!save one for russia china and maybe washington because i would not miss dc.

Debbie how do you know Fox intentionally used a photo of Bibi to make him appear like Hitler? I’m Jewish and would never have even noticed the photo had you not brought it up. You’re sensitive woman. You may be right but good grief I find it very hard to believe it was intentionally done. Don’t get mad at me either.

How well you are named Worry01. Do you see a Nazi behind every corner lurking in the shadows. All professional photographers are trained to capture the most expressive gestures a person makes. No way in hell Fox would overtly and intentionally conjure up Bibi as Hitler, dumbass.

While were at it, trying to get a person fired for saying “Go back to Israel, Jews.” Is PC to the hilt. Followings Debbies hypersensitive logic here, POS H Stern would have been out of a job long ago. Debbie’s own narrow ass would be in trouble too.

Beginning to sound like the SPLC around here. Chew on that for awhile.

Interesting, Bibi was doing a waving gesture with his left arm with palm facing in the left direction, fingers closed, that is definitely NOT a Nazi salute (actually, that Nazi salute is the Bellamy salute invented by an American socialist and the Nazis copied it). This leftist tactical photo was clearly an attack on Bibi, depicting him as a “Nazi” doing the salute, but the editors failed to realize that Nazis only does hand-salute with the RIGHT arm straight ahead, not with the left and to the side.